I happen to disagree a little on the purported "fact" you guys throw around. The government brainwashing soldiers.
I am a member of a military family, and let me tell you that a solid percentage of soldiers are remarkably intelligent, free-thinkers. Be cautious to throw the phrase "free-thinking" out to mean "thinks like me." We are ALL fallible.
More to the point, to what part of basic training would you be referring?
Violence of action? Perhaps the part where a soldier must voice the virtues of his country in a written essay of no less than 500 words?
These are men and women who CHOSE to serve. Even those who don't think they should be over there will tell you that they will gladly die in order to protect this country, even from a perceived threat.
Why? Simple.
Love.
These are men and women who hold to a sense of true love so deeply that they will sacrifice themself for another. If I may quote Black Hawk Down: "When people ask me 'Why do you do it, Hoot? You some kind of war junkie?,' I don't say anything. THEY WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND that it's not about that. It's about the man on either side of you." (emphasis mine)
Most of these guys don't care about the politics, they fight because they are our first and last line of defense, they fight because they believe in being a warrior (not a fighter, but a warrior - big difference), and we owe them respect, awe, humility, and applause, among billions of other things.
Being a free-thinker and being a war-hating, military-bashing, Bush-denouncer are not synonomous.
Did Bush lie? Yes. Are we fighting under false pretenses? Quite likely. Does that give us the right to protest the SOLDIERS? NO. And if you don't think that's the case, have you visited a military base with active deployments lately? You have to drive through a crowd of people who will verbally attack a troop transport calling the soldiers "sheep," "cattle," "brainwashed," "bloodthirsty savages," and many other hateful things.
And yet, in the space between heartbeats, this soldier would look at the person spewing this bilous curd of hatred and hostility, and sacrifice his own life so that the person may have the continued freedom to speak his mind.
The issue of the military, and the issue of President Bush are NOT one and the same. Sure, he is the commander-in-chief, but lemme tell you something - he IS intelligent. A jackass? Probably. But he does hold an incredible respect for these men and women in uniform, something the American public seems to have forgotten how to do.
Since when did the definition of "Support the Troops" mean "Get them the hell out of there"? Damn what you or I think, and show these men and women some respect.
Realize that I am not attempting to join in the repartee that you two have going here, I'm just voicing my opinion in general. I see this in a very personal way and have witnessed first hand the events I mentioned above.
A couple of other things - you mention psychological trauma. George Carlin puts it quite well. That condition was originally called "shell shock", then "battle fatigue", then "post-traumatic stress disorder". Why? Changing ideals. Why do so many veterans of Viet Nam suffer from it? Sure, it has a bit to do with what happened, but where was the country when the soldiers needed it? The people of the country from 1965-1972 were too busy throwing bricks at buses of soldiers to worry about their psychological state. We caused a boom in a condition that was treatable, and now use that boom as an excuse to stay out of a fight.
War is never a good thing, but God damn it, we should be embracing our soldiers REGARDLESS of how we feel about the war. Our sons went away and returned as murderers? Horseshit. They came back as our sons and we threw them to the lions.
As to the AWOL, Desertion, whatever-the-fuck-you-wanna-call-it question. It's pretty simple. Breach of contract. These guys are fully educated about what they MAY well face in a combat situation. Now, the down side to this is that the horrors of war cannot be truly understood without having been experienced, but seriously - enlisting just to make it through college is like becoming a NASCAR driver in order to meet Dale Earnhardt, Jr. There are easier ways to get a signature.
"There are only two defining forces that have ever offered to die for you. Jesus Christ and the American G.I. One for your soul, the other for your freedom."
Remember too, the Marine slogan. "Ours is not to question why, ours is but to do or die. Semper fi."
They are loyal to the country. And they will follow the orders of a commanding officer be that officer Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Black, White, Gay, Straight, Male, or Female. These men are not mindless drones, but honorable and loyal warriors. And it breaks my heart to hear a single ill word spoken of the sacrifice and choices they make day in and day out.